Brazil

Following last weeks near simultaneous release of torture reports in Brazil and the United States, Julia Sweig reflects in her column on the similarities and differences between the two documents, including the shared matter of impunity.

Following elections in both Brazil and the United States, Julia Sweig reflects in her column on potential ways to kickstart bilateral collaboration between the two countries over the next couple of years.

Valerie Wirtschafter reflects on the road ahead for Brazil, following a contested campaign where change was an empty buzzword used by both candidates. With Dilma Rousseff back in office for a second term, one thing is certain: she will now have to make a visible effort to deliver on her promises for reform.

Following the first round elimination of "change candidate" Marina Silva in Brazil's presidential election, Julia Sweig reflects in her column on the run-off between establishment candidates Dilma Rousseff and Aecio Neves and their potential to implement much-needed reforms throughout the country.

With the economy in recession, public infrastructure projects lagging, and last year's protests still resonating, the public mood in Brazil is far less optimistic than when Dilma Rousseff rose to the presidency in 2010.

Following the meeting between Dilma Rousseff and Joe Biden on the margins of the World Cup, Julia Sweig reflects in her column on the significance of the thaw in U.S.-Brazil relations after a year marked by the Snowden revelations, cyberspying, and postponements.

As the 2014 World Cup approaches, Julia Sweig relfects, in her column, on the links between Brazil's consolidation as a major power and its ascendance in American academic thought, and posits the World Cup as an opportunity to crystallize Brazil's emergence.

"The ills that plague Petrobras — too much debt and spending for too little return — reflect a larger concern that the golden age for Brazil, China, Russia and Turkey, once the vanguard of the emerging-market boom, is coming to an end."

Ties between Brazil and the United States will continue after Brazilian president Dilma cancelled her trip to Washington, but a prime opportunity to forge a new relationship has been lost, writes Julia Sweig.

CFR Experts Guide

The Council on Foreign Relations' David Rockefeller Studies Program—CFR's "think tank"—is home to more than seventy full-time, adjunct, and visiting scholars and practitioners (called "fellows"). Their expertise covers the world's major regions as well as the critical issues shaping today's global agenda. Download the printable CFR Experts Guide.

New Council Special Reports

Campbell evaluates the implications of the Boko Haram insurgency and recommends that the United States support Nigerian efforts to address the drivers of Boko Haram, such as poverty and corruption, and to foster stronger ties with Nigerian civil society.

Koblentz argues that the United States should work with other nuclear-armed states to manage threats to nuclear stability in the near term and establish processes for multilateral arms control efforts over the longer term.

The authors argue that it is essential to begin working now to expand and establish rules and norms governing armed drones, thereby creating standards of behavior that other countries will be more likely to follow.

2014 Annual Report

Learn more about CFR’s mission and its work over the past year in the 2014 Annual Report. The Annual Report spotlights new initiatives, high-profile events, and authoritative scholarship from CFR experts, and includes a message from CFR President Richard N. Haass.Read and download »